Avignon - a big city with a busy old centre inside the extensive and well preserved medieval walls. The Palais des Papes was impressive, although we chose to view it only from the exterior. Avignon became the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in 1303 and successive popes built the grandeur of the palace over the next 100 years. However, by now we had our fill of grand buildings and need a break. However, it was fun to see all the people gather in the plaza and watch the performers who were promoting there shows as part of the theatre festival. Instead of going inside, we visited the famous Pont St.Benezet and took a photo of Celine and me in a dance pose. The audioguide, included in the price of admission, added interest to the bridge that is only 1/6th its original length. Only 4 of the original 22 arches remain in this, the first bridge across the southern Rhone river.

Celine's ThoughtsToday was a well planned day but not well executed. We spent far too long in Avignon which impacted our stay at Pond du Gard, which impacted our eating supper at even close to a reasonable hour, which impacted our arrival home very late. We strolled through the old walled city along narrow streets packed with wares and through the main square in front of the church. We finally made it to Le Pont d'Avignon, as per the nursery rhyme. We took the auidioguide which gave us lots of neat information like the fact that only 4 arches remain out of the original 22. The bridge was a major thoroughway in its time. Paul and I even danced on the the Pont when actually the dancing used to happen underneath the Pont...sous la pont rather than sur la pont. We learned something new.